SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

FUTURISTIC SCIENCE: CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING NOVELS: SCALPEL BY N. A. AKAMIKE [A NOVEL ON HIV/AIDS]; AND SOFT TISSUE BY N. A. AKAMIKE [A NOVEL ON BREAST CANCER]. SEVERAL DISCOVERY TEXT BOOKS ARE COMING SOON. THEY ARE LISTED IN THE SECTION FOR BOOKS AND REVIEWS.

EMEKA AKAMIKE [AUTHOR AND SCIENTIST] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nigeria: Unlocking DNA Technology in Nigeria 10 APRIL 2014 Until recently, it was impossible to access services such as genetic testing for sickle-cell anaemia, prenatal and neonatal testing, DNA fingerprinting and forensic research in Nigeria. Now, a new facility at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) allows researchers to carry out genetic analysis with multiple benefits, ranging from disease prevention to agricultural research. Geneticist Joy Irobi-Devolder, chief consultant to the LUTH Molecular Biology Research Laboratory, says that DNA technology is needed in Nigeria not only to improve medical research, but also to find new ways to boost agricultural yields. She believes that the untapped potential of genetically modified crops can bring economic and health advances to Nigeria. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anti-AIDS wonder drug underway Written by Friday, 27 December 2013 00:00 RESEARCH led by scientists at the Gladstone Institutes, San Fransisco, United States has identified the precise chain of molecular events in the human body that drives the death of most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells as an HIV infection leads to AIDS. Further, they have identified an existing anti-inflammatory drug that in laboratory tests blocks the death of these cells — and now are planning a Phase 2 clinical trial to determine if this drug or a similar drug can prevent HIV-infected people from developing AIDS and related conditions. Two separate journal articles, published simultaneously in Nature and Science, detail the research from the laboratory of Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD, who directs virology and immunology research at Gladstone, an independent biomedical-research non-profit. His laboratory’s science paper reveals how, during an HIV infection, a protein known as IFI16 senses fragments of HIV DNA in abortively infected immune cells. This triggers the activation of the human enzyme caspase-1 and leads to pyroptosis, a fiery and highly inflammatory form of cell death. As revealed in the Nature paper, this repetitive cycle of abortive infection, cell death, inflammation and recruitment of additional CD4 T cells to the infection “hot zone” ultimately destroys the immune system and causes AIDS. The Nature paper further describes laboratory tests in which an existing anti-inflammatory inhibits caspase-1, thereby preventing pyroptosis and breaking the cycle of cell death and inflammation. ADVERTISEMENT“Gladstone has made two important discoveries, first by showing how the body’s own immune response to HIV causes CD4 T cell death via a pathway triggering inflammation, and secondly by identifying the host DNA sensor that detects the viral DNA and triggers this death response,” said Robert F. Siliciano, MD, PhD, a professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “This one-two punch of discoveries underscores the critical value of basic science — by uncovering the major cause of CD4 T cell depletion in AIDS. Dr Greene’s laboratory has been able to identify a potential new therapy for blocking the disease’s progression and improving on current antiretroviral medications.” The research comes at a critical time, as so-called AIDS fatigue leads many to think that HIV/AIDS is solved. In fact, HIV infected an additional 2.3 million people last year, according to UNAIDS estimates, bringing the global total of HIV-positive people to 35.3 million. Antiretroviral medications (ARVs) can prevent HIV infections from causing AIDS, but they do not cure AIDS. Further, those taking ARVs risk both a latent version of the virus, which can rebound if ARVs are discontinued, and the premature onset of diseases that normally occur in aging populations. Plus, some 16 million people who carry the virus do not have access to ARVs, according to World Health Organization estimates. Seeking solutions for all these challenges, the new Gladstone discovery builds on earlier research from Dr. Greene’s lab, published in Cell in 2010. This study showed how HIV attempts, but fails, to productively infect most of the immune system’s CD4 T cells. In an attempt to protect the body from the spreading virus, these immune cells then commit “cellular suicide,” leading to the collapse of the immune system — and AIDS. After that research, the Gladstone scientists began to look for ways to prevent this process by studying exactly how the suicidal response is initiated. Working in the laboratory with human spleen and tonsil tissue, as well as lymph-node tissue from HIV-infected patients, the researchers found that these so-called abortive infections leave fragments of HIV’s DNA in the immune cells. As described in Nature, pyroptosis ensues as immune cells rupture and release inflammatory signals that attract still more cells to repeat the death cycle. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Molecular Mechanism of Action of Artemisinin—The Debate Continues Paul M. O’Neill 1,*, Victoria E. Barton 1 and Stephen A. Ward 2 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Oxford Street, Liverpool L697ZD, UK; E-Mail: V.Barton@liverpool.ac.uk (V.E.B.) 2 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke Place Liverpool L35QA, UK; E-Mail: saward@liverpool.ac.uk (S.A.W.) ∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: p.m.oneill01@liv.ac.uk. Received: 14 January 2010; in revised form: 23 February 2010 / Accepted: 9 March 2010 / Published: 12 March 2010 Abstract: Despite international efforts to ‘roll back malaria’ the 2008 World Malaria Report revealed the disease still affects approximately 3 billion people in 109 countries; 45 within the WHO African region. The latest report however does provide some ‘cautious optimism’; more than one third of malarious countries have documented greater than 50% reductions in malaria cases in 2008 compared to 2000. The goal of the Member States at the World Health Assembly and ‘Roll Back Malaria’ (RBM) partnership is to reduce the numbers of malaria cases and deaths recorded in 2000 by 50% or more by the end of 2010. Although malaria is preventable it is most prevalent in poorer countries where prevention is difficult and prophylaxis is generally not an option. The burden of disease has increased by the emergence of multi drug resistant (MDR) parasites which threatens the use of established and cost effective antimalarial agents. After a major change in treatment policies, artemisinins are now the frontline treatment to aid rapid clearance of parasitaemia and quick resolution of symptoms. Since artemisinin and its derivatives are eliminated rapidly, artemisinin combination therapies (ACT’s) are now recommended to delay resistance mechanisms. In spite of these precautionary measures reduced susceptibility of parasites to the artemisinin-based component of ACT’s has developed at the Thai- Cambodian border, a historical ‘hot spot’ for MDR parasite evolution and emergence. This development raises serious concerns for the future of the artemsinins and this is not helped by controversy related to the mode of action. Although a number of potential targets have been proposed the actual mechanism of action remains ambiguous. Interestingly, OPEN ACCESS Molecules 2010, 15 1706 artemisinins have also shown potent and broad anticancer properties in cell lines and animal models and are becoming established as anti-schistosomal agents. In this review we will discuss the recent evidence explaining bioactivation and potential molecular targets in the chemotherapy of malaria and cancer. Keywords: artemisinin; bioactivation; molecular targets; antimalarial; antitumor agent --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Exclusive: Pioneering scientists turn fresh air into petrol in massive boost in fight against energy crisis Is scientific breakthrough a milestone on the road to clean energy? Steve Connor Friday, 19 October 2012 A small British company has produced the first "petrol from air" using a revolutionary technology that promises to solve the energy crisis as well as helping to curb global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August when it switched on a small refinery that manufactures gasoline from carbon dioxide and water vapour. The company hopes that within two years it will build a larger, commercial-scale plant capable of producing a ton of petrol a day. It also plans to produce green aviation fuel to make airline travel more carbon-neutral. Tim Fox, head of energy and the environment at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London, said: "It sounds too good to be true, but it is true. They are doing it and I've been up there myself and seen it. The innovation is that they have made it happen as a process. It's a small pilot plant capturing air and extracting CO2 from it based on well known principles. It uses well-known and well-established components but what is exciting is that they have put the whole thing together and shown that it can work." Although the process is still in the early developmental stages and needs to take electricity from the national grid to work, the company believes it will eventually be possible to use power from renewable sources such as wind farms or tidal barrages. "We've taken carbon dioxide from air and hydrogen from water and turned these elements into petrol," said Peter Harrison, the company's chief executive, who revealed the breakthrough at a conference at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London. "There's nobody else doing it in this country or indeed overseas as far as we know. It looks and smells like petrol but it's a much cleaner and clearer product than petrol derived from fossil oil," Mr Harrison told The Independent. "We don't have any of the additives and nasty bits found in conventional petrol, and yet our fuel can be used in existing engines," he said. "It means that people could go on to a garage forecourt and put our product into their car without having to install batteries or adapt the vehicle for fuel cells or having hydrogen tanks fitted. It means that the existing infrastructure for transport can be used," Mr Harrison said. Being able to capture carbon dioxide from the air, and effectively remove the principal industrial greenhouse gas resulting from the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal, has been the holy grail of the emerging green economy. Using the extracted carbon dioxide to make petrol that can be stored, transported and used as fuel for existing engines takes the idea one step further. It could transform the environmental and economic landscape of Britain, Mr Harrison explained. "We are converting renewable electricity into a more versatile, useable and storable form of energy, namely liquid transport fuels. We think that by the end of 2014, provided we can get the funding going, we can be producing petrol using renewable energy and doing it on a commercial basis," he said. "We ought to be aiming for a refinery-scale operation within the next 15 years. The issue is making sure the UK is in a good place to be able to set up and establish all the manufacturing processes that this technology requires. You have the potential to change the economics of a country if you can make your own fuel," he said. The initial plan is to produce petrol that can be blended with conventional fuel, which would suit the high-performance fuels needed in motor sports. The technology is also ideal for remote communities that have abundant sources of renewable electricity, such solar energy, wind turbines or wave energy, but little in the way of storing it, Mr Harrison said. "We're talking to a number of island communities around the world and other niche markets to help solve their energy problems. "You're in a market place where the only way is up for the price of fossil oil and at some point there will be a crossover where our fuel becomes cheaper," he said. Although the prototype system is designed to extract carbon dioxide from the air, this part of the process is still too inefficient to allow a commercial-scale operation. The company can and has used carbon dioxide extracted from air to make petrol, but it is also using industrial sources of carbon dioxide until it is able to improve the performance of "carbon capture". Other companies are working on ways of improving the technology of carbon capture, which is considered far too costly to be commercially viable as it costs up to £400 for capturing one ton of carbon dioxide. However, Professor Klaus Lackner of Columbia University in New York said that the high costs of any new technology always fall dramatically. "I bought my first CD in the 1980s and it cost $20 but now you can make one for less than 10 cents. The cost of a light bulb has fallen 7,000-fold during the past century," Professor Lackner said. ------------------------------------ Uganda: Scientists Still in the Dark About Nodding Syndrome 2 August 2012 Comment James Eriku/Daily Monitor Constant flow of saliva is one of the symptoms of nodding disease. Kampala — A four-day international scientific meeting in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, highlighted the many unknowns of so-called "nodding disease" or "nodding syndrome", which has affected more than 3,000 people in the north of the country, with patients suffering from involuntary nodding, neurological deterioration and, in many cases, death. Nodding syndrome was detected in the 1960s in parts of Tanzania. It also appeared in what is now South Sudan in the 1990s, but the syndrome began attracting international attention in 2011 as hundreds of cases were reported in northern Uganda, a region emerging from a decades-long conflict with the Lord's Resistance Army. Uganda's Ministry of Health introduced a national plan at the beginning of 2012 to treat the symptoms of the syndrome in three affected districts - Kitgum, Lamwo and Pader - including distributing anti-epileptic medication and nutritional supplements. Nodding syndrome patients generally suffer from malnutrition because food - along with cold weather - are frequent triggers of the nodding. Since the plan was announced, the syndrome has been detected in three additional northern districts - Gulu, Amuru and Oyam. Relevant LinksScientists Meet in Uganda Over Mysterious Nodding Disease Is Uganda Losing Battle Against Nodding Disease? Finding Nodding Disease Cure Will Take Years - Expert Uganda Invites Global Experts Over Nodding Disease The international meeting, which ended on 1 August, was the first to bring together various actors, including the UN World Health Organization, the US Centres for Disease Control, the UK's Department for International Development and health officials from Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. While much remains unknown, the participants did settle on an official name - nodding syndrome - and a case definition that will help field workers in all three countries determine the extent of its spread. People with nodding syndrome (almost exclusively children under 18) exhibit at least two incidents of involuntary nodding every 5-20 minutes. They also exhibit neurological abnormalities, nodding triggered by food or cold weather, physical wasting, delayed sexual or physical development and psychiatric symptoms. Cause unknown That is where the definite answers stopped, though. Jane Ruth Aceng, director-general of health services at Uganda's Ministry of Health acknowledged: "We do not know the cause." Participants were not certain if the syndrome was neurological or psychiatric, since many of the patients are living in post-conflict settings. There is also little historical information or even confirmation of all of the places where it is present. Some participants suggested the syndrome could also be in Kenya, Liberia and Cameroon. Participants were able to settle on areas of potential research to identify the cause. In Uganda, attention has focused on the relationship between the syndrome and onchocerciasis (river blindness), a parasitic disease transmitted by black flies. All of the reported cases so far have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa's onchocerciasis belt. But researchers also called for investigations to determine if there was a possible relationship between the syndrome and two parasitic roundworms - mansonella streptocerca and mansonella perstans. Initial research also indicates that Vitamin B6 deficiency, early malnutrition, fungal contamination of food and other environmental toxins could also be possible causes. They ruled out two possible theories - exposure to munitions and the food from internally displaced camps - that have gained popular attention in Uganda. Because the disease is almost exclusively appearing in areas that were ravaged by the LRA, the affected populations have been quick to make a link between the conflict and the syndrome. Through laboratory and epidemiological tests "we find that there is really no difference between the children who have been exposed and have gone on to develop nodding syndrome and those who have not," said James Sevjar, a neuroepidemiologist with CDC. With a renewed, unified agenda, the international community is now looking for funding to set up studies and a systematic surveillance system across all of the affected countries. In the absence of more knowledge, they also called for more funding to determine the best way to treat the syndrome's symptoms so that patients could attempt to resume normal activities. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Uganda: Containment Worries As Ebola Numbers Rise 2 August 2012 Comment Ugandan health officials are monitoring over 200 people who had close contact with Ebola patients, as the country attempts to curb the spread of the ... ( Resource: Uganda Scurries to Curb Spread of Ebola Kampala — Health officials in Uganda's western Kibaale District are struggling to deal with an outbreak of Ebola, as the number of suspected cases stretches local health systems. The Ugandan government has so far reported 16 suspected Ebola deaths; four have been confirmed by testing carried out at the Uganda Virus Research Institute in Entebbe. The Ministry reports another 22 suspected cases, all in Kibaale District. According to the Kibaale District Ebola Taskforce (KDET), reports of possible Ebola cases in the west continue to rise: health officials reported that they were following up on 176 people thought to have been in contact with infected patients on 31 July, up from 40 suspected contacts the day before. The disease is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person or their body fluids such as blood and sweat. Meanwhile, a shortage of trained health workers has affected containment efforts; just 56 percent of health worker positions in the country's public health sector are filled. Burials in the affected communities have been taken over by KDET, whom the ministry has supplied with vehicles, though there have been delays in providing them with fuel. The ministry has also set up a telephone hotline for citizens to report suspected cases. Relevant LinksPrison Visits Suspended During Ebola Outbreak Red Cross Responding to Ebola Outbreak Experts Sent to Ugandan Border After Ebola Scare Let Ebola Remind Us of Our Doctors' Plight Though these efforts have been boosted by the Uganda Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the US Centres for Disease Control, the UN World Health Organization and others, KDET chairperson Steven Byaruhanga said suspected cases are quickly outpacing relief efforts. "At sub-county health centres, we are getting reports that they are shying away from handling patients because they don't have protective gear," he said. According to Byaruhanga, the district is asking for the equivalent of US$334,000 to upgrade Kagadi Hospital - the centre of the outbreak - to increase awareness messages and to support traumatized health workers. "Some of them are demoralized, others are stigmatized because their colleague has passed away," he said. "They need at least some motivation." Dilapidated Byaruhanga said the facility was already dilapidated when the outbreak began, citing an irregular water supply and electricity, a broken sewer system and no medical incinerator. Local media reports this week said patients at the hospital had protested about the lack of food and water, and wanted to leave. The Ministry of Health is requesting emergency supplies from the Prime Minister's Office - responsible for disaster preparedness - as well as support from developing partners such as MSF, who are helping to build isolation centres. On top of that, the ministry has access to a 2.5 billion Uganda shilling ($1 million) reserve fund for emergencies, according to its permanent secretary, Asuman Lukwago. "We can frontload that money and use it early," Lukwago said. The outbreak was reported by the government on 28 July, but the first case is thought to have appeared weeks earlier. The death of a clinical officer from Kagadi in Kibaale District who was taken to Mulago Hospital in the capital, Kampala, sparked fears of an outbreak in the city, but health officials say seven health workers being held in isolation at the hospital have not shown any symptoms, 11 days after their potential exposure. By 1 August, no further cases had been reported in the capital. Delayed response The nearly month-long delay in identifying the current outbreak was in part due to the spiritual beliefs of the community. According to Byaruhanga, the virus wiped out nine members of one family, who believed they were "cursed". He added that the delay also erased any real hope of tracing the source of infection. "It blindfolded other research that would have taken place," he said. The UN World Health Organization has identified the strain in Kibaale as Ebola-Sudan, the same strain responsible for some 425 infections and 224 deaths in Uganda in 2000-2001 and one death in 2011; another strain, Ebola-Bundibugyo - named after a western Ugandan district - killed some 42 people in the country in 2007-2008. Byaruhanga also said health officials did not recognize the Sudan strain, which can achieve a 70 percent fatality rate, as it presented differently from the previous Bundibugyo strain, with a 30-40 percent fatality rate; patients presented with fever and vomiting rather than the more typical haemorrhaging usually associated with Ebola. "We thought it was a strange disease because the symptoms first of all were not like the previous Ebola - that's why people were not cautious about it," he said. Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has cautioned the public against physical contact. "Avoid shaking of hands; do not take on burying somebody who has died from symptoms which look like Ebola - instead call the health workers to be the ones to do it and avoid promiscuity because these sicknesses can also go through sex," he said in a statement. In Kibaale District, Byaruhanga said more than 250 schools had been closed, markets abandoned, and public gatherings banned. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TECHNOLOGY:

Nigeria: Institute Achieves Scientific Breakthrough, Invents Machine BY TONY EDIKE, 20 APRIL 2012 Enugu — THE Scientific Equipment Development Institute, SEDI, Akwuke, Enugu, has made a breakthrough into indigenous manufacture of a prime-mover, a machine which could be used by vulcanizers as a pressure pumping machine. Chief Executive of the institute, Prof. Christian Nwajagu, who announced this while speaking with newsmen on the achievements of the institute which was set up by the Federal Government in 1987, said the equipment could also be relevant as a spraying machine for painting of motor vehicles, as well as water pumping machine for those who want to drill bore-hole. He said manufacturing of the machine in large quantity could go a long way in saving Nigeria from huge importation of same equipment which had caused a lot of capital flight from the country over the years. Explaining that the institute used what he described as "reverse engineering" or "copy technology", in manufacturing the machine, Nwajagu noted that SEDI started nursing the idea of manufacturing the machine about three years ago after realising that same machine could serve dual purposes, and that the nation was spending lot of money importing it. Upon realising the various uses of the machine and the fact that all the ones used in the country were imported, SEDI decided to get the imported one, dismantle it, studied all the components and began to manufacture each of the components locally, after acquiring the necessary technology used in producing them, the SEDI boss said. "You can't just achieve much if you don't put in the correct equipment. You cannot do technology with bare hands. It takes time and money to develop the machines. It takes millions to achieve it. But if you begin to consider the huge sum involved, you may be discouraged," Nwajagu added. He stressed that until such a time the government would implement policies and create enabling environment for technology to blossom, the nation would continue to lag behind the rest of the world in terms of technological growth and development. Nwajagu, a renowned Metallurgical engineer, said the institute has retrained about 300 graduate engineers to make them relevant in the society, stressing that the main reason the nations graduate engineers lag behind was that they were exposed to obsolete and bad equipment during their period of study in the nation's tertiary institutions. He therefore called on investors in the country to embraced some of SEDI's new technological breakthrough, especially the reversed prime mover single cylinder machine capable of doing multiple jobs, saying if properly funded, the institute had the capacity of meeting the nation's science equipment needs. Nwajagu maintained that no nation of the globe "can develop without having the capacity of producing products locally especially in the area of science and technology which now rules the world, because no amount of workshops or seminars can do the magic since it is a practical thing". Insisting that Nigeria has qualified engineers that can turn the nation around technologically, the SEDI boss said: "The white men do not have two heads, but they are making headways just because their governments invest heavily in human and infrastructural development so, with modern and adequate infrastructure in place, Nigeria can also advanced technologically. What our nation needs is just the political will by the leaders." ------------------------------------ Thursday, 01 December 2011 15:39

Second iPhone explodes

Written by Agency Reporter

An iPhone user narrowly escaped being burnt in the face after his iPhone exploded on a bedside table in Brazil, a few days after another iPhone exploded on a plane.



The phone short circuited and started to burn 15 inches from a man's face as he slept, the online news website Mashable reported.

Ayla Mota said he woke up to see sparks and black smoke coming from the iPhone 4, telegraph.co.uk reports.

The room filled with an 'unbearable' smell, Mota said, and he quickly removed the iPhone from the plug, opened windows, and turned on a fan to get rid of the smoke.

The incident came a day after Australian aviation authorities launched an investigation after an iPhone caught fire aboard a flight to Sydney.

The domestic airline Regional Express Airlines said the phone glowed red and emitted 'thick smoke' after the plane landed in Sydney.

The case is being investigated by the aviation watchdog, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which described it as an incident involving 'fumes, smoke, fire'. The authority is examining the phone after it was delivered by the airline.

"We are investigating – it is quite early on in the investigation," said a spokesman for the authority.

"We do have the phone. It is in our custody and we will be undertaking a technical examination of it. We will be interviewing directly involved parties and also in our technical examination of the phone we are going to be consulting with the manufacturer as well."

The airline released a photo of the phone, saying the 'combustion' incident occurred last Friday during a flight to Sydney from the New South Wales town of Lismore.

"The flight attendant carried out recovery actions immediately and the red glow was extinguished successfully," said a statement issued by the airline. "All passengers and crew on board were unharmed." Though the aviation authority did not identify the model of phone, a photo released by the airline suggests it was an iPhone 4.

An Apple spokesman said the company looked "forward to working with officials."

Though aviation officials said it was the first known incident involving an iPhone, Apple has previously had problems with the first generation of iPod nanos. A batch of the devices, sold between 2005 and 2006, were recalled amid concerns a defect with the battery was causing overheating.

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Buyers' Guide - Laptops

Computer specifications are very confusing. Know the difference between graphics cards that support new bus architectures and ones that don't? No? Us neither.
The main thing to think about when buying a laptop is what you are going to be using it for. There's no point in spending £2,000 on something that could fly you to the moon (probably) if all you want to do with it is play solitaire and watch Mary Poppins on DVD.
There are five main types of users:
Despite almost every laptop coming with inbuilt wireless technology, hard drive and sound card, the difference between different models can be stark.
While price is a good indication it always pays to shop around.
The final general thing to remember about laptops is that once purchased it is a lot more difficult to upgrade components than in their desktop counterparts.

CASUAL (value for money)
Are you the sort of user who wants to use the internet, check email, watch DVDs, listen to music and not a lot more? Then you're a casual user.
People after this sort of laptop are often oversold more expensive products by pushy sales assistants as these users often know least about what they are looking for.
Getting something relatively cheap that still does everything you need it to do has become increasingly easy due to the swift price drop of laptops in recent years.
Though it might not be light and may not be have supermodel looks but it should do everything you need it to do.
Here are a few things you should look for:
Price - Don't pay more than £400 for this sort of laptop. You can even now get laptops for under £300 (or free if you are willing to sign up for an 18-month mobile broadband deal, though you should proceed with caution) if all you need to do is very simple tasks.
Memory/Hard drive - Around 2GB of RAM should suffice. You could get away with 1GB if you are not conducting multiple tasks at once. Safe to say that the more RAM the better.

Graphics - For the sort of price you are looking to spend then you are pretty much stuck with what you are given.
This is generally "shared" graphics which means that the integrated card shares memory with the main operating system. Rubbish for gaming or complex multimedia tasks but fine for everyday use.
TRAVELLER (light and small)
Always on the go? Tired of lugging around more luggage than you could ever possibly carry? Then you will need something light that slips into your hand luggage.

Laptop technology is increasingly moving towards the portable end of the market and battery life of new laptops, where once a 3hr stint without a charge was considered revolutionary, is pushing towards and even exceeding 10 hours - although this can be hard to achieve.

Here a few things to look for:

Weight - Weight is all important. As a rule, the lighter it is the more expensive it will be. Ideally, choose a laptop with a weight around 2kg or less. Any more and that laptop bag will start getting uncomfortably heavy.

Battery life - Chances are that you will be away from a plug socket for long periods of time. If you're out on the road all day then a battery life of eight hours would be ideal but very few laptops offer that.
Around 4/5 hours is around the industry standard for mid-range light laptops, however laptops advertising a 12-hour battery life are now on sale, though many reviewers have said this claim is still optimistic.
Size - If you are travelling then screen size is a compromise you may have to make. Average sizes are around 13 inches but can be as small as 10.
If you are not doing complex tasks or wanting to watch DVDs then a netbook might be best. They have smaller memories and longer battery life. The thinnest laptops can be under 3cm in width but really you should aim at no more than 4cm.

Optical drives - or the lack of them. Many "ultraportables" - as they are known - have not included a disc drive to cut down on weight and width.
If you intend to watch DVDs and aren't comfortable, or do not have sufficient free disc space, with them on your hard drive then an optical drive is a necessity.
Hard drive - If there is no internal optical drive then the hard drive needs to be larger to incorporate items that you might have kept on DVD. Around 160GB could be plenty if you don't have a large media library.
If you want to hoard every film made in Los Angeles then the sky is the limit (though most portables don't go much about 320GB).

HOME (desktop replacement)

If you don't use your computer on the go that much but want to replace your cumbersome desktop with something less bulky then many laptop manufacturers will cater to your needs.
Because there is less worry about battery life (because it will be plugged in most of the time) and weight (because it will not be transported that often) they are often cheaper when compared to similar spec lighter machines.
But, if you are replacing a desktop, it will be more expensive like-for-like compared to the computer you are replacing.

Here a few things to look for:

Price - How long is a piece of string? If you really want something that would replace a decent (£500) desktop then the price will be approaching £1,000.
With a little bit of shopping around, however, and maybe a little bit of bartering that cost can come down.
Specifications - The trick here is to aim high. Because weight is not a top priority you can get heavier parts with a high spec for a low price. 4GB of RAM, large (350GB+) hard-drive and quick (2.2Ghz dual core or higher) processor are all a priority to run the wide variety of tasks a family machine has to deal with.
Size - With a large screen comes added weight. A normal laptop screen is about 15 inches in size and really, it depends on how often you want to move the machine around.
A 19 inch screen in no good for checking an email on a train but would be fantastic to watch a movie on. Just remember that the smaller it is the more portable the laptop becomes.
Extras - Blu Ray is becoming more common and should really be included if you intend to "future-proof" your machine as much as possible. That said, many analysts say that the switch to Blu Ray as the main drive is unlikely to happen until 2013.

MULTIMEDIA (photo/video/music editing)

Ever thought of yourself as a bit of a Rankin or a Spielberg? While video and photos can now be edited on nearly every machine you would buy (helped with Apple or Microsoft's bundled software) if you are planning to do more complex edits then more complex software - Adobe's Creative Suite, Pro Tools and Final Cut are good examples - will need to be purchased.
Because of the strain put on laptops from rendering video and large image files, computers need a lot of memory and large hard drives. One minute of high definition video can take 1GB of disc drive space and image file sizes are growing exponentially.

Here a few things to look for:

Memory - The bigger the better. 4GB should be fine the moment but a new wave of machines with larger ram capacity is expected in the near future.

Graphics - Important for editing images and video. A dedicated graphics card (with its own memory) is becoming a necessity if you want to undertake this sort of work, ranging from 128MB to 1GB. This decision has to be influenced by your budget.

Ports - If you're using a lot of complex machinery - cameras, musical instruments etc - then you need to make sure that it will connect to your laptop without much trouble.
Standard connections should be three or four USB ports (preferably USB 3.0 though this is very new technology) and it could be the case that you need a Firewire port. Laptop manufacturers often choose to exclude this port.
Fan - If you are recording music using your laptop then does it need to be silent? There are a number of almost silent fans on the market but are quite expensive.
It is also the case that modifications to this part of the laptop can be difficult so if you require a silent machine then it may be best to consult a specialist music supplier.

GAMER (high end machine)

There was a time when the PC dominated the games market. While the hardcore gamers still use them - specs are generally higher than on a console - many have shifted across to the Xbox, Playstation or Wii because of the ease of use and cost.
Gaming machines are expensive - there is no real way around it. To run the latest software, specifications need to be high and so do not come cheap.
A number of serious gamers refuse to switch to laptops because they often cannot be fully customised or upgraded with ease.

Here are a few things you should look for:

Size - There is no way of making a gaming sleek. To have the screen and the hardware for gaming it cannot really be an easily portable machine.

Processor - Quad core (the equivalent of having four processors in the same machine) is slowly becoming more common in gaming machine.
If there has to be a compromise (because of cost) then general wisdom is that is better to sacrifice a little processor speed rather than graphics.
Graphics - New games on the market require specialist graphics cards. This is vital and new models on the market offer 1GB dedicated memory.
This means that it can store a large amount of video information in a short amount of time. Serious gamers are not really looking at any less.
Also important for graphics is a full HD (1920x1080px) display, or at least somewhere close to that resolution to get the best from your flashy new graphics card.

Memory - While less important because of the graphics card, it would be unwise to risk anything less than 4GB.
If other actions your computer might be conducting get in the way of the game, your character could come to a juddery halt as stumbles along at three frames per second just as you get to the end of a level.
India's internet surfing and shopping boom
By Rajini Vaidyanathan BBC News, Mumbai

WATCH: India could become one of the world's top ten hubs for e-commerce by 2015
"Most people of my age today in India literally live online," says Seeya Malhotra as she unwraps a box that has been delivered to her desk at work.
The box contains a set of desk speakers which she had ordered on the internet a few days before.

Buying items at the click of a button is the way Seeya shops these days - she says almost half of her wardrobe has been purchased online, as well as her lunch and many other things.
India has a long and dominant tradition of small family businesses and street traders, but the online marketplace is growing here too.
As internet use rises at a rapid pace, so too does the uptake of internet shopping.
There are more than 65 million people logging onto the web in India, according to research group Juxt.
This might be a small proportion of the country as a whole, but in itself represents a sizeable market.
And Juxt estimates four in every five of these web surfers shop online.
At this rate, India could become one of the top 10 e-commerce hubs in the world by 2015, says Murali Krishnan, the boss of eBay India.
“Start Quote
The prime reason we're selling online is because we can reach a larger consumer base in smaller cities other than the metros”
End Quote Payal Kothari Veruschka shoes
His prediction is based not only on increasing internet uptake in India's smaller cities, but also growing consumerism, which is driving demand for foreign labels.
"The huge proliferation of retail malls has increased awareness of the latest brands and products," he says.
"As a result, the Indian e-commerce market is growing rapidly; in fact it's exploding."
India has more than 3,311 e-commerce hubs, according to research conducted by eBay India for its 2011 census.
The company analysed transactions made on the site between July 2010 and July 2011.
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur and Chennai remain the biggest cities in terms of e-commerce, according to eBay, but what is more telling is that around 40% of transactions now come from smaller cities.
It is this broadening reach and customer base which is enticing more of India's smaller businesses online.
Shoe surfers
In her studio in South Mumbai, Payal Kothari is sketching designs for her latest shoe collection.
Crammed into the small space are boxes upon boxes of footwear - from high heels with sparkly ankle clasps to wedge sandals encrusted with beads.
Ms Kothari's designs are worn by Bollywood stars and Bollywood wannabes alike.


Many sellers find it is easier to find buyers through the web
In the past year, she decided to start selling her wares through various internet shopping portals, having previously only sold to stores.
Ms Kothari says she has customers across India, and has orders from Chennai to Chandigarh.
"The prime reason we're selling online is because we can reach a larger consumer base in smaller cities other than the metros," she says.
"The country is vast so the only way we can do that is through several websites."
For Ms Kothari internet sales offer other advantages, such as avoiding the high costs of retail space, and a guaranteed sale before a product is shipped out.
"When we sell online, we can actually concentrate more on creating the product," she says.
Popular Indian online sites in the past decade have included travel booking portals - the Indian railways ticket site (IRCTC) is used by almost one in five of the country's web users, according to research company Comscore.
Recent successes include online books, movies, and accessories store Flipkart that has been styled as India's answer to Amazon.
The company, which started in 2007, is India's e-commerce success story and is reportedly valued at $1bn (£635m).
It now employs more than 2,500 staff, and has eight million visitors a month.

Hurdles:

The diversifying e-commerce landscape is also demonstrated by the success of group buying sites in India, as well as Groupon India, which will soon operate under Crazeal.com site, in 11 cities.
“Start Quote
If you're able to give Indians the right kind of price point that's what makes the market click, and you can taste the success of it”
End Quote Vijayanand Shekokar Dealite.in
Snapdeal.com is another popular site that offers discounts to those who sign up.
Mr Krishnan says there has been a shift in Indian e-commerce in recent years, with more women buying online and a rise in the purchase of lifestyle products.
He estimates that the Indian online shopping market in the country is worth $500m (£317m), but is predicted to grow in the next year to $750m.
However, there are still hurdles associated with e-commerce in India.
Poor infrastructure and logistics make deliveries to some parts of the country difficult, and the relatively low uptake of credit cards has forced companies to think creatively.
The lack of credit means many firms in India offer cash on delivery as a means of payment.
Rahul Jagtiani, the owner of the online-only home accessories store plushplaza.com, says cash on delivery has helped to build up customer trust in the market.
Mr Jagtiani believes online is the best place for a start-up to operate in, but concedes that there are many Indians who are still fearful of buying a product online without having seen it first.
"A lot of people are still a bit unsure as to how a product is going to look when they receive it," he says.


Many Indian shoppers like Seeya Malhotra prefer to buy most things online
"In India they have that mentality, and are a bit paranoid about customer service. We speak to each customer individually and try and quell their fears and ensure that what they see is what they get."
Mr Jagtiani is one of many entrepreneurs in India who are betting on India's online market.
Vijayanand Shekokar is another - he left his career working at PayPal India and eBay India to start up his own online auction site, Dealite.in.
Mr Shekokar's site, which went live a month ago, works on the principle of using social media to advertise sales.
Despite some cultural hesitancies around online buying, he believes the medium is suited to Indians.
"Everybody is a deal seeker here," he says.
"If you're able to give Indians the right kind of price point, that's what makes the market click, and you can taste the success of it."
Investors see this potential too, and more venture capitalists are looking to invest in e-commerce businesses in India.
A report from research firm Venture Intelligence suggested that between January and August of this year $137m had been invested in e-commerce firms in this way, across 21 deals.
Internet use in India is predicted to skyrocket in the coming years, and so too could the profits of companies betting on the online future.

Counterfeit drugs targeted by technology in India

By Shilpa Kannan BBC News, Delhi

WATCH: Fake drugs like these counterfeit Viagra pose a huge health risk to patients - and destroy confidence in genuine pharmaceuticals
Making pills that could save lives both in India and abroad, Indian pharmaceutical companies are growing faster than ever before.

Worth over $12bn, the industry is expected to grow more than four-fold in the coming decade.
But even as global attention is focused on the healthy growth in India, it is threatened by a serious malaise - counterfeiting. Fake drugs in the system risk not just lives of patients, but also the reputation of drug makers.

Faking it

There are varying estimates of how big the problem is. Up to 25% of the medicines consumed in poor countries could be counterfeit or substandard, according to the World Health Organisation. They define a counterfeit as "a medicine, which is deliberately and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source".
Counterfeit drugs are a $200bn (£128bn) industry worldwide. Producers need very little investment to set up the manufacturing process and can make huge profits.
With manufacturing costs nearly 40% cheaper than other countries, the authorities are worried India could become an easy target for counterfeiters.
This is why the government has launched a campaign against counterfeit medicines. The drug controller of India says while they have task forces that regularly raid producers, it is increasingly difficult to spot fakes.


Fake drugs like these, destined for Africa, can kill
Very often consumers cannot work out if they have been treated with a counterfeit product, which may contain non-active or even toxic ingredients.
Deputy drug controller general of India, Dr D Roy, says counterfeit medicines often resemble the originals in chemical composition. But he thinks the biggest problem is the packaging.
Holding up two strips of a medicine for the common cold, he points out that its nearly impossible to find any differences in them.
"This is how consumers are deceived," he says.
"Retailers too would find it difficult to identify a fake. The packaging industry is not regulated by us. The need of the hour is to evolve a more holistic approach that ensures involvement of all stakeholders in the supply chain."

The deputy drug controller for India, Dr D Roy, shows how difficult it is to tell the fakes from the real things
Currently, when a company suspects that its drugs are being counterfeited in a particular area, they alert the local office of the drug controller to take action.
The authorities then conduct a raid and seize any fake products found.

Testing times

When a consumer suspects that a drug is counterfeit, the process to get it tested in a government laboratory is slow and expensive.
Technology is now being used to speed up the process.
A committee set up by the Indian Ministry of Health has approved a proposal to put 2D barcodes and scratch-off labels on medicines.
The label works like a telephone recharge coupon. The user scratches off the cover and texts what is underneath to a freephone number, to find out if a pill is real.
Quick response (QR) codes are also being tested. These printed squares are an advanced version of the 2D barcodes. Anyone with a camera-enabled phone and web access can scan the code and be taken instantly to the pharma company website to authenticate the drug.
Leveraging the extensive mobile usage in the country and cloud computing, the pharma industry hopes to increase their credibility. Computer companies see a huge business potential in offering technology solutions to the whole industry.
Hewlett-Packard is one of the companies offering a solution, a cloud-based platform called Global Authentication Service.


This barcode lets pharma companies track drugs through the supply chain
Pharma companies can buy two-dimensional bar codes which will be printed on the packaging material.
The companies can then use the cloud service to monitor the movement of products through their global supply chains. The system is used to trace and authenticate medicines in Nigeria and Ghana.
A Appadurai of HP India says they have used the system in Africa with non-profit social enterprise mPedigree. In India, they are in talks with pharma manufacturers like Cipla, Tablet India and the Chemical & Alkeli Merchants Association (CAMA).
Mr Appadurai says the technology would not be very expensive.
"The two dimensional barcodes would cost around one rupee each. This may mean a firm's expenditure may rise marginally. However, compared to the litigation costs some pharma companies face, this cost is nothing."

Bonding moment

In an effort measure the amount of fake drugs in the market, the pharma industry and the authorities have come together.
Measures under consideration include a certification system for pharmacists, and an open source website where consumers and companies can access data on fake drugs.
Bilcare Technologies makes anti-counterfeiting, security and brand protection technologies. These include a handheld scanner to track their security technology nonClonableIDT.


This scanner can check the authenticity of packets of pills
It's almost like a fingerprint that can be put on any product. The company claims it provides a reliable means to track and trace products across the supply chain - from manufacturer to consumer.
Another company, PharmaSecure, has come up with a technology called UIMV - unique identification mobile verification. It is a unique code for each product which can be verified by sending texts to the number given.
Manufacturers print these codes on packaging, and monitoring begins the minute the product leaves the factory. This way consignments are protected while in transit until they reach their destination.

Profits warning

Bejon Misra of the Partnership for Safe Medicines says counterfeiting eats into profits and affects the development of new formulations for medicines.


Consumers can text this number to a freephone number to find out if their medicine is real or fake
"In the perennial search for new drugs to tackle viruses and bacteria that are constantly mutating and developing resistance to current medications, the pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars every year towards research and development.
"If we fail to reduce the menace of spurious medicines, the cost towards health care can increase phenomenally."
Prafull D Sheth of the South East Asian Regional Pharmacy Forum says that even if a small percentage of the overall market is found to be counterfeit, it has a big impact financially.
According to the WHO the most frequently counterfeited medicines in wealthier countries are new, expensive lifestyle medicines, such as hormones, steroids and antihistamines.


Government regulations mean drug manufacturers will have to bar code their products

While in developing countries it is those used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
The majority of fake drugs available are said to originate in India and China.
India is also one the world's fastest-growing hubs for generic drug production. A majority of the medicines available in Africa come from Indian generic drug laboratories.
Meanwhile the World Trade Organization says fake anti-malaria drugs kill 100,000 Africans a year and the black market deprives governments of 2.5-5% of revenue.
The government hopes barcoding will give credibility to the generics leaving the country. From 1 October 2011, it will be mandatory for all pharmaceutical exporters to print bar-codes on their tertiary or outer-most packaging.
“Start Quote
It's important for India to reassure consumers worldwide of the safety and credibility of drugs made here”
End Quote Paul Lalvani Empower School of Health
The order also stipulates the compulsory implementation of a track and trace system will also include secondary-level packaging from 1 January, 2012 and primary packing from 1 July, 2012.
Paul Lalvani is dean of Empower School of Health.
He says around $5bn is invested by the big donor funds in anti-malarial and anti-retro viral drugs.
"80-90% of this comes from India. Drug makers impact the lives of over 6m people around the world who are on anti-retro viral drugs and 200m people on anti-malarials."
"So it's important for India to reassure consumers worldwide of the safety and credibility of drugs made here."
Ensuring that poor people get access to quality drugs is a top priority says the government. But counterfeiting is seriously impacting the growth the pharmaceutical sector has so far been enjoying.
Until the government is able to crack down on fake products in the marketplace, popping a pill could be life threatening.

Online shopping is growing rapidly in China

By Nick Mackie in Beijing and Chongqing

As Nick Mackie reports, online shopping in China is more than clicking on the "buy" button
Zhang Qiaoli uses her spare bedroom for storing her stock of ladies' fashion-wear and photo shoots.
She is one of more than five million small online stores operating across China, some from small apartments or even college dormitories.
Zhang Qialoi runs her online business out of her spare bedroom
She buys dresses and accessories wholesale; using the website Taobao, she sells them on as the Kitty Lover range, at prices under $10.
Taobao is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and the brainchild of founder Jack Ma. It is a free-to-use online marketplace with some 800 million product lines - from food to clothes to technology.
It boasts 50 million unique visitors a day and is the top destination for three quarters of the country's online shoppers.
Running Kitty Lover allows Ms Zhang to work from home and take care of her baby son - though it's more than a hobby.


"Of course it's quite competitive, because there are hundreds of new stores opening every day on Taobao," says Ms Zhang.
"Considering that I haven't been doing this for that long a time, I need to gain experience and grow my own business step by step."
Across China, online companies large and small are learning how to be effective e-commerce players - or fail like US goliath eBay, which was trounced by upstart Taobao back in 2006.
In 2010, China's online shopping industry had a turnover of $80bn, and grew 87% year-on-year.
China's 420 million internet users spend around a billion hours each day online - and last year, 185 million made at least one online purchase.
According to Boston Consulting Group, the volume is expected to increase fourfold by 2015.
Online shopping now accounts for more than 5% of China's retail sales, and Taobao's sellers are behind 70% of the country's online transactions.
E-commerce is changing the way Chinese consumers think about shopping: online, it is more social than a hard sell. It's a new engaging experience to savour.
In Chinese retail, trust is a rare commodity. There are plenty of fakes online, and buyers are often cursed by scams or shoddy goods.
Still, consumer faith in e-commerce stores is remarkably robust.
That's because, apart from its convenience, online shopping has shifted the balance of power from sellers to buyers.
China's consumers have the upper hand like never before - and it's not just because there are more traders at their fingertips than in the local High Street.


Yang Jie built HanHan World through social marketing

Social commerce
HanHan's World sells what one might call chintzy Iphone covers. At its small office the team of three is busy chatting with potential customers via the site's instant messenger application, which also comes with video chat.
Customers can check how much HanHan's World sells and at what cost.
New sites on Taobao that want to compete with HanHan's World and move up the rankings have prove their worth by shifting volume and get good buyer feedback.
"In the beginning we promoted ourselves through product forums," explains Yang Jie, HanHan World's manager. "Due to good quality and our low prices, with barely any profits, we developed rapidly in a short time."
Online shopping in China is more than clicking on the "buy" button. The experience includes exchanging tips with other shoppers, discussing trends, and rating both products and service.
The interaction and communication generates trust.
"The ability of social networking combined with e-commerce or social commerce as I like to call it - where people are able to rate their providers, provide information to other purchasers - that level of experience is really overcoming the big weaknesses," says Duncan Clark, Chairman of BDA (China), an expert on China's e-commerce industry.
"Basically, there is a one-to-one connection being established. And that's breaking through the mistrust barrier if you will. So I think we can learn, actually - the West can learn from some of the developments happening in the Chinese e-commerce sector," says Mr Clark.


DangDang's Peggy Yu bets on the "latecomer's advantage

Latecomers' advantage

That said, even China's big e-commerce retailers, like Amazon look-alike DangDang, don't profess to be great technology innovators.
At its massive warehouse south of Beijing, most of the work is lifting, sorting, stacking, labelling, scanning, boxing, taping - before the trucks arrive to deliver 100,000 packages a day.
In China, the competition is about focusing on how to put the technology to work. This often means duplicating or tweaking existing ideas to get an edge in the market, cheaply and quickly.
"We should take latecomers' advantage," says Peggy Yu, chairwoman of DangDang. "To me that means, taking apart other success business stories and see how business can be conducted more effectively."
In this rapidly expanding, huge market of 600 cities, much of the focus now is on finance and management, and on solving the puzzle of how to deliver a fast reliable service to the regions far away from the eastern seaboard - and then grow market share.
In December 2010, DangDang - China's largest book seller - raised $272m by listing on Wall Street's Nasdaq stock exchange. The money was used to fund an expansion of its product range and establish regional warehousing.


DangDang's biggest problem is getting the supply chain to connect with its warehouses

But a big headache remains that is beyond the company's control: "I think the supply chain weakness is the biggest bottleneck to e-commerce in China," says Ms. Yu.
"Manufacturers in China are typically local businesses. And their distribution capacity is restricted to a very small region. But DangDang requires suppliers to deliver to our distribution centres throughout the country - so that we can ship to every single customer in the whole of China. And that is a real challenge for suppliers."
It's a fundamental offline problem for e-commerce in China.
Still, investors see China's scale and potential.
Another Amazon-styled mass market retailer, 360.buy, raised $1.5bn in April during a funding round - on top of a $500m investment round last December, that saw US retail giant Wal-Mart taking a stake.
What now, Taobao?


E-commerce in China is growing rapidly

At rival Taobao, these moves raised eyebrows.
Faced with a rapidly changing marketplace and freshly financed challengers with more focused product lines, in June parent company Alibaba split Taobao into three separate companies:
• eTao, a shopping search engine, to help drive customers;
• Taobao Mall, a fee-earning "online showroom" for some 70,000 companies, including many leading foreign brands; and, of course,
• the Taobao marketplace for small sellers like Zhang Qiaoli to grow her fledgling Kitty Lover business - a platform that is free for users, although Taobao earns from adverts.
"I think, Alibaba is going through some growth pains right now," says Duncan Clark. "It's become so large, so fast with Taobao that it's having to seek ways to adjust. And it's not entirely clear yet how they'll emerge."
Some analysts go further and warn that the split could be disruptive.
Alibaba's top managers are not used to criticism. But the group lost a lot of long-held goodwill during what one could describe as founder Jack Ma's "annus horribilis".
First, staff of Alibaba's international business-to-business online market place were caught up in a $6m fraud.
Then came widespread criticism of the transfer of Alibaba's valuable online payment company Alipay to a firm owned by Jack Ma himself. Foreign investors like US firm Yahoo and Japan's Softbank were furious.
Both matters have been resolved, but a bitter taste remains - despite Jack Ma's insistence that he shunted Alipay from Alibaba to comply with new Chinese regulations that bar foreign ownership of any payment company on the Chinese mainland.
"The whole episode has been damaging... to Alibaba's perception in the marketplace," says Mr Clark. "They should be communicating more now about what's going on."
The BBC tried for three months to schedule an interview with Alibaba and Taobao, to discuss the fundamental changes rippling through China's world of e-commerce.
So far, neither the parent company nor its subsidiary found time to talk.
-----------------

iPod creator switches attention to 'smart' thermostats

The thermostat is able to "learn" and adjust itself
The man known as the "godfather" of the iPod has invested his energy in a home appliance: a thermostat.
Tony Fadell caused surprise when he quit Apple in 2008 after heading its music player division. Fortune magazine once tipped him as a successor to former chief executive, Steve Jobs.
Mr Fadell has now revealed his efforts went into the Learning Thermostat.
The smart device adjusts the temperature based on the presence of people and their habits.
It can "learn" about a house's cooling and heating patterns to optimise its performance, and adjust itself to the weather conditions.
Mr Faddell said the device could cut 20 to 30% off the average household's energy bill.
He said it is also possible to control the $249 (£156) thermostat remotely via a smartphone app.
The price is around fifteen times higher than what basic thermostats sell for in the US.
“Start Quote
You don't hire a crack team to build a product. You hire them to build a company”
End Quote Matt Rogers Nest
Smart gadgets
There are also alternative "smart" models on the market.
A Canadian firm Ecobee produces web-connected programmable "green" thermostats.
But according to Mr Fadell's company, Nest, the Learning Thermostat is more user-friendly, and has the advantage of being able to "observe" household members and their surroundings.
Using a motion sensor, it can detect whether or not anyone is home - and if the house or flat is empty, it goes into the energy-saving mode by turning down the heater or air conditioner.
Beyond thermostats

It is possible to adjust the temperature remotely, from a computer or a mobile device
Smart thermostats are just one kind of the growing number of "intelligent" devices that are connected to the web and able to interact with humans and among themselves.
Smart meters and smart grids are among the best known ones, but companies are also experimenting with smart parking places, smart tags at retail stores and even a so-called Urban operating system aimed at controlling devices of a future smart city.
The tech website CNET, which interviewed Nest's co-founder Matt Rogers, says the start-up is likely to move beyond smart thermostats in the years to come.
"You don't hire a crack team to build a product. You hire them to build a company," the site quoted Mr Rogers as saying.
---------------------

US's most powerful nuclear bomb being dismantled

By BETSY BLANEY - Associated Press |

This undated handout photo provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration …

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — The last of the nation's most powerful nuclear bombs — a weapon hundreds of times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima — is being disassembled nearly half a century after it was put into service at the height of the Cold War.
The final components of the B53 bomb will be broken down Tuesday at the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, the nation's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility. The completion of the dismantling program is a year ahead of schedule, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, and aligns with President Barack Obama's goal of reducing the number of nuclear weapons.
Thomas D'Agostino, the nuclear administration's chief, called the bomb's elimination a "significant milestone."
First put into service in 1962, when Cold War tensions peaked during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the B53 weighed 10,000 pounds and was the size of a minivan. According to the American Federation of Scientists, it was 600 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of World War II.
The B53 was designed to destroy facilities deep underground, and it was carried by B-52 bombers.
Since it was made using older technology by engineers who have since retired or died, developing a disassembly process took time. Engineers had to develop complex tools and new procedures to ensure safety.
"We knew going in that this was going to be a challenging project, and we put together an outstanding team with all of our partners to develop a way to achieve this objective safely and efficiently," said John Woolery, the plant's general manager.
Many of the B53s were disassembled in the 1980s, but a significant number remained in the U.S. arsenal until they were retired from the stockpile in 1997. Pantex spokesman Greg Cunningham said he couldn't comment on how many of the bombs have been disassembled at the Texas plant.
The weapon is considered dismantled when the roughly 300 pounds of high explosives inside are separated from the special nuclear material, known as the pit. The uranium pits from bombs dismantled at Pantex will be stored on an interim basis at the plant, Cunningham said.
The material and components are then processed, which includes sanitizing, recycling and disposal, the National Nuclear Security Administration said last fall when it announced the Texas plant's role in the B53 dismantling.
The plant will play a large role in similar projects as older weapons are retired from the U.S.'s nuclear arsenal.
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